"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, resonating with servicemen going off to fight as well as their families and loved ones.[1]
| "We'll Meet Again" | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover | |
| Song by Vera Lynn | |
| Released | 1939 |
| Genre | Ballad |
| Length | 3:04 |
| Label | Michael Ross Limited |
| Songwriter(s) | Ross Parker, Hughie Charles |
| Producer(s) | Norman Keen |
Background
editThe song was published by Michael Ross Limited, whose directors included Louis Carris, Ross Parker and Norman Keen. Keen, an English pianist, collaborated with Parker and Hughie Charles on "We'll Meet Again", as well as many other songs published by the company, including "There'll Always Be an England" and "I'm In Love For The Last Time".
The song's original recording featured Lynn accompanied by Arthur Young on Hammond Novachord (an early electronic keyboard), while a rerecording in 1953 featured a more lavish instrumentation and a chorus of British Armed Forces personnel.[2][3][4]
Composition
editThe song was originally written in the key of D major, set to a tempo of 92 BPM.[5]
Legacy after World War II
editDuring the Cold War, Lynn's recording was included in the package of music and programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS), designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.[6][better source needed][7] The song reached number 29 on the U.S. charts.[when?][citation needed] Lynn sang the song in London on the 60th anniversary of VE Day in 2005 alongside Petula Clark and Bruce Forsyth.[4]
In April 2020, a charity duet with Katherine Jenkins, released in 2014, reached number 72 on the UK Singles Chart, with proceeds going to National Health Service charities.[citation needed] In May 2020 following the 75th Anniversary celebrations of VE Day, the solo version by Lynn also reached number 55 in the UK chart.[8]
Use in media
editThe song inspired and gave its name to the 1943 musical film We'll Meet Again, where Lynn stars in a loose adaptation of her life as a Forces' Sweetheart during the war.[9][10]
Lynn's 1953 recording is featured in the final scene of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove with a bitter irony, as the song accompanies a nuclear holocaust that wipes out humanity.[11][12]
British director John Schlesinger used the song in his 1979 film Yanks. The film focuses on British citizens and American soldiers during the military buildup in the UK as the Allies prepare for the Normandy landings.
The 1982 ITV period drama We'll Meet Again took its name from the song. The song is used in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television serial The Singing Detective.[13]
Cultural impact
edit- The song has been credited as one of the first to make use of the Hammond Novachord, the first polyphonic synthesizer.[14]
- Traditionally, this song is played on 5 May as a closure to the Liberation Day Concert in Amsterdam, to mark the end of World War II in the Netherlands.[15]
- In 2024, the piece was performed by the South Netherlands Philharmonic at the Netherlands American Cemetery. "We'll Meet Again" closed out the program, which commemorated the 80th anniversary of The Netherlands' liberation.[16]
- On 5 April 2020, Queen Elizabeth II referenced the song in a rare televised address that aired to Britain and the Commonwealth, where she expressed her gratitude for the efforts people are taking to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic virus and acknowledged the severe challenges being faced by families across the world.[17] The reference spurred covers by West End theatre stars with Lynn[18] and Katherine Jenkins just some months before Lynn died. Jenkins' version was released on iTunes as a benefit for the NHS Charities Together.[19]
- The song is one of several played in the waiting queue of the Tower of Terror ride at Walt Disney World.[4]
- During the series finale of The Colbert Report, dozens of past guests of the show returned to sing the song together.[20]
- The Pink Floyd song Vera references lyrics of "We'll Meet Again" as well as Lynn herself.[21]
Bibliography
edit- Baade, Christina L. (2012). Victory Through Harmony: The BBC and Popular Music in World War II. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537201-4 – via Google Books.
- Maconie, Stuart (6 June 2013). The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4090-3318-9 – via Google Books.
- Savage, Mark (18 June 2020). "We'll Meet Again: The story of Dame Vera Lynn's wartime classic". BBC. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
References
edit- ^ Baade, Christina L. (2012). Victory Through Harmony: The BBC and Popular Music in World War II. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-19-537201-4.
The song combined the first-person plural, which had been so successful in more jingoistic numbers, with romantic longing and an insistent faith in the couple's eventual reuinon.
- ^ "Cover versions of We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn with Arthur Young on the Novachord". Secondhandsongs.com.
- ^ "Vera Lynn – We'll Meet Again / I'm Praying To St. Christopher". Discogs. 9 September 2023.
- ^ a b c Savage, Mark (18 June 2020). "We'll Meet Again: The story of Dame Vera Lynn's wartime classic". BBC. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ Publications, Wise (13 January 2011). We'll Meet again: The Best of Vera Lynn (PVG). Wise Publications. ISBN 978-0-85712-514-9 – via Google Books.
- ^ Hellen, Nicholas (11 July 1999). "Julie Andrews to sing to Brits during nuclear attack". The Sunday Times. London.
- ^ Saunders, Tristram Fane (18 June 2020). "We'll Meet Again: how Vera Lynn's song inspired everyone from Kubrick to the Queen". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "Vera Lynn". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Maconie, Stuart (6 June 2013). The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records. Random House. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4090-3318-9.
So popular was 'We'll Meet Again' that it spawned a movie of the same name starring Vera Lynn in 1943, by which time both America and the Soviet Union had entered the war and the tide had turned against the Axis powers.
- ^ Guthrie, Kate (June 2017). "Vera Lynn on Screen: Popular Music and the 'People's War'". Twentieth-Century Music. 14 (2): 245–270. doi:10.1017/S1478572217000226. hdl:1983/ac206c7a-7646-4dd5-b7fc-8f212cd7d4f8. ISSN 1478-5722 – via Cambridge Core.
- ^ Pfeiffer, Lee (25 October 2024). "Dr. Strangelove | Summary, Characters, & Facts". Britannica.
- ^ McQuiston, Kate (2013). We'll Meet Again: Musical Design in the Films of Stanley Kubrick. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-19-976766-3.
- ^ "We'll Meet Again". The People's Songs. BBC Radio 2. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "We'll Meet Again: The story of Dame Vera Lynn's wartime classic". BBC News. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
- ^ Asprou, Helena (18 June 2020). "What are the lyrics to Dame Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again' – and what's the story behind the WWII song?". Classic FM. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "2024 Liberation Concert at Netherlands American Cemetery". American Battle Monuments Commission. 28 August 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "The Queen's coronavirus address: 'We will meet again'". BBC News. 5 April 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ Hewitt, Phil (24 April 2020). "Dame Vera Lynn promises UK theatre will thrive again "some sunny day" – VIDEO". Sussex Express. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Katherine Jenkins and Dame Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" reaches number one on iTunes charts". ITV. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Paskin, Willa (19 December 2014). "Of Course Stephen Colbert, the Character, Didn't Die. We're Going to Need Him". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
- ^ Maconie, Stuart (6 June 2013). The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records. Random House. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4090-3318-9.
Pink Floyd's track 'Vera' on The Wall album refers to it 'Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?/Remember how she said that we would meet again some sunny day?'
External Links
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